The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

The cynical torment of 57-year-old Nedim Khalilov is almost certainly retaliation for his attempt to bring legal proceedings against Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. | detail

Crimean Tatars have categorically rejected a proposal to establish a new ‘cheerful’ festival, ‘Avdet Kunyu’ or Day of the Return to Crimea and see it as an idea coming from "those who are depriving us of our Liberty, our Homeland and national identity" | detail

The words above were spoken by a great Ukrainian Petro Grigorenko when he addressed Crimean Tatars exiled in Moscow in 1968, almost 25 years after the Deportation. Nearly 50 years later, Crimean Tatars are once again exiled or persecuted, and Grigorenko’s advice on demanding their rights and accepting no less, just as poignantly relevant. | detail

Ukraine is taking Russia to the European Court of Human Rights over its ban of the internationally recognized Mejlis or Crimean Tatar self-governing body. The ban has rightly been condemned as “a hostile act against the entire Crimean Tatar people” and as a new low for Russia | detail

Nedim Khalilov began his hunger strike on Nov 24, in protest at being forcibly ’deported’ from his homeland 9 months after the Crimean Tatar lodged a law suit against Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading and occupying Crimea. | detail

Nedim Khalilov, a Crimean Tatar activist who in February 2016 filed a civil suit asking for the actions of the occupation regime and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be declared illegal, has been ‘deported’ from his homeland and is being forcibly sent to Uzbekistan | detail

Four young Crimean Tatars from Sudak have each been fined 20 thousand roubles in Russian-occupied Crimea over a peaceful act of remembrance for the victims of the 1944 Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People | detail

Suleyman Kadyrov, a member of the Feodosia mejlis (regional self-governing body) could be the next to face surreal ‘separatism’ charges, following an armed search linked to a Facebook post from March 2016 in which Kadyrov calls Crimea part of Ukraine. . | detail

Only a miracle remained, and it didn’t happen. Russia has formally banned the Mejlis, or self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars, the main indigenous people of Crimea which Russia invaded and annexed two and a half years ago. An escalation in repression seems inevitable, with a number of Mejlis leaders in immediate danger. | detail

Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis and recent victim of punitive psychiatry has again been brought before a court in Russian-occupied Crimea, effectively confirming in advance fears that repressive measures will escalate once the Supreme Court rubberstamps Russia’s ban on the Mejlis, or Crimean Tatar self-governing body | detail

Ukrainian parliamentarians and international organizations have been urged to keep Russian-occupied Crimea on the agenda and warned that a new escalation in repression against Crimean Tatars is probable once the ban on the Crimean Tatar Mejlis or representative assembly comes into effect | detail

The current ‘trial’ of imprisoned Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz is proving as openly contemptuous of the law as the charges themselves. Chiygoz has been prevented from attending his own ‘trial’, or even properly hearing what is being said, and the prosecutor makes no attempt to conceal his racist views | detail

The World Congress of Crimean Tatars met on July 31 with Crimea firmly in the headlines. This, however, was due to the disturbing statements made by Donald Trump, rather than attention to the appalling rights abuses under Russian occupation. The congress took place without their colleague Ervin Ibragimov who was abducted two months ago, with his portrait and the empty seat a chilling reminder of the terror Russia has unleashed on Crimea. | detail

17 July is the 31st birthday of Ervin Ibragimov, the Crimean Tatar activist abducted on May 24 this year from near his home. There has been no sign of him and there is nothing to indicate that the de facto authorities are making any real effort to find his abductors. That is if we assume that they were not behind his abduction | detail

Ukraine’s government has formally established February 26 as the Day of Crimean Resistance to Russian Aggression. The choice of date is linked with one of the most cynical cases of repression specifically targeting Crimean Tatars that the West has failed to adequately address. The decision was made even more poignantly appropriate by coming on political prisoner Ali Asanov’s 31st birthday, his second in detention. | detail